Very interesting thread here, I have read every post and found many good views on the subject. The little bit of education I have, is in Digital Sound and Music Production, and I have spent more or less my whole life listening to anything from 20 mins operas written by Verdi to the worst modern dance music out there.
When it comes to rap music, I think its got both positive and negative sides to it. I for one can never understand how this so called gangsta rap reached mainstream and got so many followers, cuz yes there may be one or two songs in there as in any music genre that stands out, but an awful lot of it sounds un-talented and not put much thought into it. But at the same time there are rap artists out there that seems to care about the music and melodic part of their genre as well and very often it seems like they are the ones you hear about on more than one occasion.
Personally I don't mind listening to some of the feat. tracks out there, Walk this way - Run DMC and Aerosmith, Every breath you take - P. Diddy and The Police, Stan - Eminem and Dido, just as long as I don't have to listen to the whole CD over and over, it raises the quality of what is music when you get some melody in there that varies the song so it isn't just talking lyrics on a 3 min beat. A lot of the early 80's rap was in that matter a lot better then whats out on the air these days....
But then again, I'm mainly a rock 'n' roll and punk fan, so maybe I should shut my gob lmao
